Friday, September 30, 2016

It's always interesting
to look back in time and see what politicians that are running for office were
doing during previous campaigns. In the case of Hillary Clinton's 2008
campaign, as we all know, she hung on until the bitter end, suspending her
campaign on June 7, 2008 with this
speech:

By March 2008, it had become quite apparent that Barack Obama was going to be the Democratic nominee for
president, however, Hillary Clinton hung in there and, as you'll see in this
posting, her campaign team was ready to get "down and dirty" when it
came to winning the nomination for her.

As background, the author
of the following weekly strategic review for Hillary Clinton's 2008
presidential campaign was Mark Penn. Mr. Penn has had a long
involvement with the Clinton family and their association with American
politics as stated on his website:

"He is
also known as the strategist for and creator of well-known campaigns and ads,
helping reelect President Bill Clinton and his move to the political center,
devising then Senator Hillary Clinton’s successful “Upstate strategy,” creating
Tony Blair’s “Forward not Back” campaign in 2005 and the “3AM” ad in the 2008
Presidential primaries, and led the team on Microsoft’s hugely successful 2014
Super Bowl ad when he headed advertising there.

He also
claims to have helped elect over 25 heads of state around the globe. His
involvement with Hillary Clinton during the 2008 presidential cycle included
serving as her Chief Campaign Strategist.

Now, let's
look at the memorandum from Mark Penn to Senator Hillary Clinton dated March 19, 2007. This first page shows
the results of the most recent polling at the time notes that Barack Obama has
the highest favourable across the board while Hillary Clinton has the highest
favourable with Democrats, however, it does note that Obama's support is "soft":

Here's the
second page which notes that one of Obama's weaknesses is his "lack of
American roots":

Here's the
third page which details Barack Obama's "lack of American roots" and
how the Clinton campaign can use that perception to Hillary Clinton's advantage:

Note that
the author states that "...his roots to basic American values and culture
are at the best limited" and that he is "...not at his centre,
fundamentally American in his thinking and his values." By way of
comparison, he notes that every speech that Hillary gives "...should
contain the line that you were born in the middle of American to the middle
class in the middle of the last century" and that she should talk about
her "deeply American values that she grew up with, learned as a child and
that drive you today".

On page
four, we see the interesting concept that a "vast right and left wing
conspiracy" was set up to "tear Hillary down":

This is
reminiscent of Donald Trump and his concerns about the validity of the vote in
2016, isn't it? It's even more interesting to note that Mr. Penn was
concerned about how the "left (was) hell-bent on proving Clinton fatigue,
and everyday they dredge up muck rather that (sic) look at Hillary and what she
has accomplished.".

For
completeness sake, here are the final pages of the eight page memorandum:

I do like
the "Obama is all sizzle and no steak" reference on page five and the
fact that her Chief Campaign Strategist wants Hillary Clinton to be "as likeable as possible", also on page five.

With Donald
Trump's recent comments on birtherism and his laying of the blame for the
genesis of that entire movement on Hillary Clinton's shoulders, this memo shows
us that, while Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign wasn't directly responsible for
questioning the current president's American roots, it was certainly willing to skirt the
margins of the degree of his "Americanness" and remind them that he was not as American as she is.

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

While the first debate
with Hillary Clinton would have lead viewers and voters to believe that Donald
Trump fully backed the war with Iraq, here
is a clip from January 2003 showing that his support for the actions in Iraq
was lukewarm at best:

It is pretty obvious that
his backing was far less certain than Hillary Clinton's October 2002 Senate
vote on House Joint Resolution 114 (Authorization for Use of Military Force
Against Iraq Resolution of 2002) which gave President George Bush blanket
authority to take whatever actions he deemed necessary to put an end to Iraq's
supposed accumulation of weapons of mass destruction. For completeness
sake, here is a screen capture showing the votes of
all members of the Senate:

Apparently, the truth depends on your perspective in the 2016 presidential election cycle.

Have you ever wondered
which presidential candidate America's billionaires are supporting during the
2016 election cycle? Well, wonder no more. When you are looking at
this data, please keep in mind that these billionaire donors also donate money
to other Democratic or Republican Party recipients including PACs,
Congressional races and state political wings so their donations to the candidates generally represent a very small portion of their total political donations. For example, while Warren Buffett has only donated $2,700 to Hillary Clinton, he has donated over $132,000 to otters Democratic candidates and committees.

Here is a listing of the
top ten America's billionaire donors (in order of wealth) who have donated
funds to Hillary Clinton's campaign and how much they have donated so far in
this cycle:

A very significant
portion of Ms. Clinton's billionaire-sourced funding has come from two
individuals; George Soros and James Simons who have donated just short of $19
million between the two of them. As well, looking in detail at donor data
according to Open Secrets, Alice Walton of Walmart fame, has donated a
whole $20 to Donald Trump's campaign. That would buy a couple of Chinese made t-shirts at one of her stores! I guess you have to play both sides
of the political spectrum, just in case.

Here is a listing of the
top ten America's billionaire donors (in order of wealth) who have donated
funds to Donald Trump's campaign and how much they have donated so far in this
cycle:

Unfortunately, Bradley
Hughes Sr. doesn't quite make the list, missing the top ten by a mere $100
million. Mr. Hughes, founder of American Homes 4 Rent, has given Mr.
Trump $449,000, the top billionaire Trump donor. As significant as his
donation is, it would only put him in fourth place among Hillary Clinton's
pantheon of billionaire donors, well behind her first, second and third place
donors.

Despite the fact that
Donald Trump is one of their billionaire peers, it's quite interesting to see
that America's billionaires appear to be reluctant backers of one of their own.

Monday, September 26, 2016

You probably don't
remember this but back in September 2014, President
Obama spoke at the Open Government Partnership Meeting held at the
United Nations Building in New York City:

Here are some key quotes
in case you don't want to listen to the entire 11 minute speech:

"Three years ago, the United States and seven other
nations launched this Open Government Partnership to represent the other side
of that equation -- because when citizens demand progress, governments need to
be able to respond. And in a new millennium flush with technology that
allows us to connect with a tweet or a text, citizens rightly demand more
responsiveness, more openness, more transparency, more accountability from
their governments.

In just
three short years, this partnership has grown from eight nations to 64.
It has helped to transform the way governments serve their citizens.
Together, we have made more than 2,000 commitments -- improving how governments
serve more than 2 billion people worldwide. More citizens are petitioning
their governments online, and more citizens are participating directly in
policymaking. More entrepreneurs are using open data to innovate and
start new businesses. More sunlight is shining on how tax dollars are
spent. And more governments are partnering with civil society to find new
ways to expose corruption and improve good governance.

Here in the
United States, we’ve been trying to lead by example. We’re working to
open up and share more data with entrepreneurs so they can pursue the new
innovations and businesses that create jobs. We’re working to modernize
our Freedom of Information Act process so that it’s easier for Americans to
use, so that they can see the workings of their government. And today,
I’m proud to announce a series of new commitments to expand and broaden our
open government efforts....

So the
achievements of these first three years are an example of the kind of steady,
step-by-step progress that is possible for people and countries around the
world. No country has all the answers. No country has perfect
practices. So we have to continue to find new ways to learn from each
other, to share best practices, and most importantly, to turn the commitments
that we’ve made into real and meaningful action that improves the daily lives
of our citizens. I’m confident that if we do that, we can ensure that
we’re living up to the basic truth that governments exist to serve the people,
and not the other way around.

Let me just
close by saying this: When we started this, we didn’t know if it was
going to work. And I could not be more proud to see the enormous changes
that are taking place all around the globe -- in small increments
sometimes. It’s not flashy. It doesn’t generate a lot of
headlines. But the work you’re doing here is a steady wave of better
government, and a steady wave of stronger civil societies. And over time,
that means that not only will individual countries be stronger, and not only
will the citizens of those countries have greater opportunity and are less
prone to experience injustice, but that translates into a world that is more
just and more fair. And that’s the kind of world that I want to leave my
children." (my bold)

Ironically, according to
the U.S. Department of State, the Open Government Partnership is "...a global effort to make governments better. Citizens want
more transparent, effective and accountable governments—with institutions that
empower citizens and are responsive to their aspirations." The
Open Government Partnership was founded on September 20, 2011 with eight
founding nations; Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, Philippines, South
Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States. Here is is President
Obama's pledge at the time:

"We
pledge to be more transparent at every level -- because more information on
government activity should be open, timely, and freely available to people. We
need to pledge to engage more of our citizens in decision-making -- because it
makes government more effective and responsive. We pledge to implement the
highest standards of integrity -- because those in power must serve the people,
not themselves. And we pledge to increase access to technology -- because in
this digital century, access to information is a right that is universal."

During the
opening session on April 17 and 18, 2012 in Brasilia, Brazil, here's what then
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had to say about the concept
of open government:

"In
the 21st century, the United States is convinced that one of the most
significant divisions among nations will not be north/south, east/west,
religious, or any other category so much as whether they are open or closed
societies. We believe that countries with open governments, open economies, and
open societies will increasingly flourish. They will become more prosperous,
healthier, more secure, and more peaceful." (my bold)

Now that we
have that background, let's look at the most recent information on the Hillary
Clinton personal server issue released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation
on September 23, 2016. At that time, the FBI released 189 pages of interviews that they
held with various members of Clinton's DoS staff, trying to get to the bottom
of what really happened during Ms. Clinton's tenure at the top of the
Department of State pyramid:. With the concept of Open Government in
mind, here is what some of the declassified, formerly Top Secret pages
released to the public look like:

The first two pages tell us absolutely nothing. From
the third page of the three that I have attached, we don't even know who
the FBI interviewed on December 31, 2015 by unnamed/redacted Special
Agents. We don't even know how long the person worked for Ms.
Clinton and what role they played in her office. This kind of information release makes
it particularly difficult for those of us that are mere mortals to
actually get an accurate sense of Ms. Clinton's guilt or innocence

Now, if
that's the Obama Administration's concept of "Open Government", it
looks like America's participation in the Open Government Partnership is
little more that a farce. So much for the President's statement that the government "exists to serve the people, and not the other way around."

Subscribe To

About Me

I have been an avid follower of the world's political and economic scene since the great gold rush of 1979 - 1980 when it seemed that the world's economic system was on the verge of collapse. I am most concerned about the mounting level of government debt and the lack of political will to solve the problem. Actions need to be taken sooner rather than later when demographic issues will make solutions far more difficult. As a geoscientist, I am also concerned about the world's energy future; as we reach peak cheap oil, we need to find viable long-term solutions to what will ultimately become a supply-demand imbalance.